After 19 Years .....

To my man, my partner, my lover, my friend, my pure bliss, thank you for 19 wonderful years.  

I look forward to celebrating  more milestones with you .....

The Birdsong Garden Chronicle {Part 1}

It started with our dream of having a small land to plant fruit trees, vegetables, herbs and flowers. We are on our way to see the fruition of our dream. It is not going to be easy. There's a lot of hard work involved. But we are fulfilling our dream, one day at a time. Sharing with you our journey.... Let the hard work begin!

A little back story....

I took this photo at the beginning of Fall 2014 when we started planning the organic garden. The land behind the wooden fence that used to be the home of turkeys, goats and lambs will be converted to an organic garden.

On a closer look, this is what the space looks like. this piece of land is divided into 2 areas by wooden fence. The right side of the land {which is behind me on this photo} will be the vegetable garden and some shade loving plants. This part is near the chicken house. So hopefully,we can create an environment where the girls can forage for insects and worms.

Day 1 

The day started gloomy, cold and foggy. Definitely not a good start 

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By mid morning, the sun was out and the geese started flying back home from their journey south of the boarder. If they are working hard, why can't we?

So here we are on day one! Smiling and excited {I wonder how long the excitement last. LOL}

This is the bird's eye view of the vegetable garden. I am the first one to say that when we were surveying the area, we were overwhelmed! There is no way we will be able to fill this land with vegetables and herbs this year. It will take some time and money {which we don't have much!}. Dear hubby said, "lets fill what we can and add some more when we can. First things first. We need to remove the dead leaves". That's why I love him! We raked and raked and raked until I can no longer stand up straight. 10 bags of leaves and we are not done yet!

After clearing the earth with fallen leaves, dear hubby started re-staining the small barn that used to be the lambs' house. He wants to use this for this garden tools and a place for the chicken and ducks' feeds.

Since it is too early to plant anything {it's still cold in our neck of the woods}, we have to wait for a couple more weeks. While waiting, dear hubby built 4 raise beds for the veggies and herbs. We will start preparing the soil next week.

I on the other hand was busy with the girls. Their coop and garden needed a serious spring cleaning.

Meanwhile  our feisty Effie Trinket was seriously observing hubby while was working outside the girls's garden. I wonder what was she thinking?

Day 2

Now we move on to the left side of the land. This space used to be the goats' area. One day, hubby wants this place to be filled with apple and pear trees, flowers and other plants that will attract birds, butterflies and bees. As it is, you can see blue jays and cardinals here early mornings.

Dismantling of the goals playground started hubby's day. While he worked with a crowbar. I continued raking this part of the land. Another 10 bags of leaves! Maple trees are beautiful in the summer and fall but when the leaves start falling, start calling the saints for help!

When the play pen was finally dismantled, now you can see another small barn that used to hold the hay for the goats. This will be converted to my potting shed! I can't wait to embellish this with flowers and pots and make it my own space! The enclosed area beside my shed will be Muning's play pen. I will fill it with cat grass and catnip {which she loves to death} so she can also enjoy the backyard while we work in the garden.

I also got busy re-staining my potting shed with dazzling barn red!

Near the pond, Katniss and Peeta were debating if they will take the plunge because the water is still icy and filed with winter debris. But they missed the water so much so they did it. Here's Peeta after he took his first spring bath! 

When we can work no more, we feasted on this delicious spring veggie tart and refreshing strawberry and lime sangria from my kitchen. After day two, we were both tired to the bones but still excited. Tomorrow is another day! 

Until next time .... come visit us again for the continuation of our journey .....

DIY Project | Aged Bird Cage

Don't you just love doing crafty things outside the house when the sun is out and the breeze gentle? Oh, I do! While hubby was busy dismantling an old goats' playground on the west side of our property {that part of the land will be converted to a floral garden, good luck to us!}, I was on the other side trying to "aged" this wood bird cage. I had this for more than 10 years so its old but I want to give it a new look to make it look older {if that make sense}!

I spray painted it white all around and let it dry completely. 

It actually looks nice when the paint dried so I took the cage inside our lounge area for a "look test" {left photo}. 

But the photo on the right is what I have in mind : something old and organic. So I took some of hubby's grain paper and sanded the white paint randomly.

After 15 minutes of sanding to my heart's content here is the finished product ....

An English Ivy plant and a couple of salt and pepper bird shakers complete the project. Definitely a "new" look with an "old" charm!


Linking with : Treasure Hunt Thursday

Chicken Inspired Spring Centerpiece

A couple of weekends ago, we "officially opened" our Jardin du Poulet for our girls. As I shared in my previous post {My Girls are Adopted}, this part of "La Grand Maison" is where the sun and dust bathing occur. But due to the amount of ice and snow that accumulated in that part of the chicken house, we had to close it during the entire winter months. You can just imagine the excitement of the girls when they can finally roam in their garden again!

Pruning the trees, raking the old leaves and adding diatomaceous earth are definitely in order in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the excitement of the girls are contagious that I drew my inspiration from this scene when I worked on a spring centerpiece for our breakfast table.

The colors {green, brown/black, orange, yellow and blue} plus the elements {chickens, trees/leaves, puddle of ice and earth} were my blueprints for coming up with this ....

I planted English Ivy and Muscari on small plastic pots for my greens then put them on this containers for embellishment : ceramic measuring cup from my kitchen and the galvanized iron container is from Michaels' Market Collection. 

Other embellishments include this metal and  resin chicken on a drinking well figurine I got from one of our junking shopping trips, egg cup holders, spring table napkins and jelly beans.

How do I love spring? Let me count the ways .....

Linking with : Simple Saturdays Blog Hop

Through My Lens : Sunrise

PEACE is seeing the sunrise and knowing WHO to thank.

This beautiful sunrise greets us every morning just outside the doorstep of our home, the Birdsong. It is always worth waking up at the crack of dawn just to be part of this new beginning!

Linking with : Weekly Top Shot

Happy Easter!

From our home you yours .... a blessed and happy Easter!

Jesus Christ is risen today Hallelujah!